Reality show: news or not?

Published 1:00 am, Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Some can very well argue that the coverage of a national reality show building a home to be donated in Colonie has been -- and there is no other word -- extreme.

Certainly this newspaper and its Web site have been chock full of stories about the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" filming a home rebuilding project in Colonie.

I know: I've written more than a few of them, one of the half dozen-plus Times Union staffers who've reported on the story. Keep that in mind when reading what follows.

The coverage has been extensive elsewhere, especially WTEN Ch. 10, the local ABC affiliate. Other radio and TV news stations in town also have done stories. Everyone, it seems.

Everyone except WNYT Ch. 13.

So far, the NBC affiliate has chosen to ignore the story -- not so much because it's not "news," but because "EM:HE" airs on a competing network.

"It doesn't strike me as a story we ought to do," News Director Paul Lewis said Monday morning. "This is a program that is on another network. It's not our place to be enhancing that entertainment program."

Lewis said the decision was made after lengthy internal conversations, which included opposing viewpoints. He stresses that it's still very possible the station will do a story at some point.

But for now, Lewis said business considerations are a factor in the equation.

"It's not our role as the NBC affiliate in town to advance and enhance an ABC program," Lewis said. However, if "Extreme Makeover" and WNYT shared a network, the decision would be different.

"I'm giving an honest answer: If it were an NBC show, we would certainly cover it," Lewis said. "I'm not naive enough to say, 'No.'

"For me to give aid and comfort to competitors makes no sense," he added.

Give the man points for being up front. But not everyone agrees. "It's a story about a pop-cultural phenomenon, and about a community's charitable effort, even if it is being exploited," said Mary Fran Gleason, the Times Union's managing editor. "Given the huge interest in the show and in the family's story, we couldn't ignore it."

The newspaper, Gleason noted, often covers events sponsored by competitors, including The Daily Gazette's Christmas Parade in Schenectady, but certainly not all of them.

"We have to weigh newsworthiness and reader interest first," she said.

Likewise, The Daily Gazette and other media outlets do not ignore events at Albany's downtown arena because it's now named the Times Union Center.

Gene Ross, news director of WXXA Ch. 23, the Fox affiliate, was dubious about doing a story about "Extreme Makeover."

"I had to be convinced," he said. "I didn't realize that hordes of people would go over and watch it. That made it interesting." Fox 23 has done periodic reports.

"The standards for news is whether it's newsworthy or not," said WRGB Ch. 6 News Director Beau Duffy, whose station has done several stories.

"They shut down a block in the town of Colonie. People are interested in it. Why would we not tell them about it?" he continued. "We are not out to promote the show. We are covering the story." Granted, everyone involved agrees that the network the show airs on affects the tonnage of coverage by various TV outlets. But Ross said that should not have an impact on the underlying question: Is "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" coming to town news?

"Even though it's not on our network, what's interesting is interesting," he said. "Would we not cover the NCAA Tournament because it's on another network?"

Lewis said the same thinking went into WNYT not doing a story earlier this year when two local contestants made it through the preliminary round on the Fox reality show "American Idol." (Both were later eliminated.)

The difference here is there's tangible local impact throughout the community, far beyond just the effect on the family. Some of the real "news" stories include traffic issues, the roles of thousands of volunteers and spectators, related costs, the impact on neighbors, and a slew of human-interest sidebars like how you build a house in several days. But Kelly McBride, a faculty member and ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a Florida journalism school, said she can see where Lewis is coming from.

"It is entertainment," she said of the show. "In this case the line of where entertainment and news is (is) so incredibly blurred, I don't know if I can defend the decision, but I understand it."

McBride said if you are going to criticize WNYT's decision to not cover the show or its impact in town, you might as well criticize other outlets like the Times Union for writing heavily about it -- after holding off publication of the show coming to town until it was revealed to home recipient Debbie Oatman.

WNYT "decided it was not news, because it was an entertainment product," McBride said. "Any time you get into this area, when entertainment and news is crossing over, I don't think you can criticize them without criticizing yourself.

"Until it's clearly news, and I don't think it is, it's a clearly legitimate question to ask," McBride continued. "I completely respect the guy who says, 'At this level of a news story, I can't do that.' "

Ross said the commercial concerns of doing a report on a competing network's show are minimal at best.

"They are going to get their ratings anyway," he said, "so what the heck?"

Mark McGuire can be reached at 454-5467 or by e-mail at mmcguire@timesunion.com. Visit his blog at http://blogs. timesunion.com/television/